See Who Came To Dinner
Over a hundred all in all and what a magnificent event it was
For those of you who didn’t manage to make this years club dinner, you truly missed a spectacularly fine evening of fine food, friends, banter and one of the best talks we have had. Our guest speaker was bestselling, award-winning, author and Times columnist, Ben Macintyre. Five of his books have been made into BBC documentaries, and his latest book, Colditz Prisoners of the Castle, inspired the starter on the evening menu.
The evening started with a reception, in the front bar, from 7.15. House manager, Tony Brown, was on the door informing guests of their table number (although that could have just been for me, looking lost) and there was already a good buzz in the room.
At 8pm the call for dinner was made, and the assembled great and good, made their way to a splendidly prepared marquee. The wines on the table were, a Muscadet Sur Lie Clos de la Fine 2021, Cotes de Grandlieu, and a Carignan 2021, Vieilles Vignes, Roche de Belanne. After everyone had assembled and grace had been said, seats were taken.
Pictured here, from the front left clockwise; Doug Baillie, Page Singletary, Margaret Tague, Mike Stewart, Cathy Singletary, Yvonne Baillie and Stephen Tague
The themed starter was a Colditz Corn Beef Hash, served with a duck egg and brown sauce and, served in a traditional mess tin. Very tasty and followed by an equally delicious Venison Loin with dahl puree, venison ragu, boudin noir (that’s black pudding in case Traffic is reading), braised carrot and a rich venison jus
Going from front left clockwise; Mark Carpenter, James Drayton, Richard Eustace, Richard Lord, Karl Murray and Ralph Doyle
It may have been the case that there had a late substitution on the dessert - being checked here by Mark Stocker, on the right, with Dave Butcher, James Culverwell and Peter Goddard moving right to left. Whatever the case it was superb, followed by another variation on the cheese course (dedicated to one of these)
After the Loyal Toast, and short break, The Club Toast was proposed by Gary Honeyford, before Captain, John Cahill introduced Ben Macintyre.
A very interesting and thought provoking talk, giving much inside into the realities of Colditz and aspects of being there which are far from the images portrayed, and remembered by many of us, from that 70s BBC series. A number of Ben’s books were on sale and he gave more of his time signing copies, post dinner.
Back to the 70s for a mo and how many remember mum saying “Stop leaning back on that chair. You’ll break the legs!”. Did we listen? Well one certainly didn’t, as during JC’s final round-up, the back leg of Adrian Fawcett’s chair went crack and dumped him on his proverbial.
Ever the empath and enquiring into Adrian’s well being JC merely said over the mic, “Physician, heal thyself!”
I did see Captain and Ben on the steps of the clubhouse, afterwards, and congratulated Ben on a great talk and JC on guest selection. John admitted the credit had to go to First Lady, Sandy Cahill, for the suggestion of inviting Mr Macintyre - what a fine suggestion that was.
The evening started with a reception, in the front bar, from 7.15. House manager, Tony Brown, was on the door informing guests of their table number (although that could have just been for me, looking lost) and there was already a good buzz in the room.
At 8pm the call for dinner was made, and the assembled great and good, made their way to a splendidly prepared marquee. The wines on the table were, a Muscadet Sur Lie Clos de la Fine 2021, Cotes de Grandlieu, and a Carignan 2021, Vieilles Vignes, Roche de Belanne. After everyone had assembled and grace had been said, seats were taken.
Pictured here, from the front left clockwise; Doug Baillie, Page Singletary, Margaret Tague, Mike Stewart, Cathy Singletary, Yvonne Baillie and Stephen Tague
The themed starter was a Colditz Corn Beef Hash, served with a duck egg and brown sauce and, served in a traditional mess tin. Very tasty and followed by an equally delicious Venison Loin with dahl puree, venison ragu, boudin noir (that’s black pudding in case Traffic is reading), braised carrot and a rich venison jus
Going from front left clockwise; Mark Carpenter, James Drayton, Richard Eustace, Richard Lord, Karl Murray and Ralph Doyle
It may have been the case that there had a late substitution on the dessert - being checked here by Mark Stocker, on the right, with Dave Butcher, James Culverwell and Peter Goddard moving right to left. Whatever the case it was superb, followed by another variation on the cheese course (dedicated to one of these)
After the Loyal Toast, and short break, The Club Toast was proposed by Gary Honeyford, before Captain, John Cahill introduced Ben Macintyre.
A very interesting and thought provoking talk, giving much inside into the realities of Colditz and aspects of being there which are far from the images portrayed, and remembered by many of us, from that 70s BBC series. A number of Ben’s books were on sale and he gave more of his time signing copies, post dinner.
Back to the 70s for a mo and how many remember mum saying “Stop leaning back on that chair. You’ll break the legs!”. Did we listen? Well one certainly didn’t, as during JC’s final round-up, the back leg of Adrian Fawcett’s chair went crack and dumped him on his proverbial.
Ever the empath and enquiring into Adrian’s well being JC merely said over the mic, “Physician, heal thyself!”
I did see Captain and Ben on the steps of the clubhouse, afterwards, and congratulated Ben on a great talk and JC on guest selection. John admitted the credit had to go to First Lady, Sandy Cahill, for the suggestion of inviting Mr Macintyre - what a fine suggestion that was.